The Greeks will now get their bailout funds that have been withheld from the EU leaders some time next week. Most of the tranche of €31bn will be used to bail out Greek banks that have taken a huge hit from losses on the Greek government bonds that they held in the previous ‘restructuring’ of Greek government debt. But the banks will not have to be nationalised and very little of EU funding will go towards helping the Greek economy or even government budget needs.

Instead, a new round of vicious reductions in government spending will be imposed. The austerity measures include raising the retirement age from 65 to 67 years, with pensions being cut by 5-15% (on top of previous cuts). Christmas, Easter and holiday payments will be scrapped. Lump sum payments for people who enter retirement will be cut by up to 83%, depending on the sector. So-called “special salaries” in the civil service, which are paid to military personnel, security services, judges, doctors and judges will be cut by 30%. Employees at public enterprises face similar wage cuts as they will be inducted into the across-the-board pay structure for the civil service. This means that salaries will fall by 30-35% and a ceiling of 1,900 euros per month will be set. There will also be pay reductions for ministry staff, local authority workers, employees at the National Intelligence Service and the country’s president.

You might say that these better off civil servants should suffer like everybody else – and it’s true that the government has spared the military and the judges up to now. But the real hit is to jobs across the board in the public sector with a programme of job losses for 2000 workers before Christmas and a further 6250 every three months next year with a limit of one new hiring per five redundancies until 2016. The national minimum wage will be slashed and the redundancy notice period reduced. The labour market is being ‘freed up ‘ with Sunday opening and the deregulation of professions. These latter measures don’t look so bad, but remember it’s the job losses, the wage and pension cuts and the power to hire and fire that is the real aim to reduce wage costs.

The government’s draft budget shows that Greek GDP in 2013 will be 22% below its 2007 peak. Over 800,000 people have already lost their jobs and unemployment is at 25.1%. And the new measures show that the worst is yet to come. So far most of the austerity in the government sector has been achieved by slashing government investment (down 39%) and weapons purchases (down 84%), while just not paying bills for drugs, equipment and services in hospitals and schools (€11bn in unpaid bills to suppliers). But because of the collapse in the capitalist sector of production, social benefits and welfare spending rose.

Now the Troika and the government intend to destroy what is left of the welfare state in Greece and any public services and really get costs down. Of course, it has failed to catch any of the rich Greek tax evaders who have fled with their money to places like London to buy big properties. The journalist who revealed that there was a list of Greeks with Swiss bank accounts (including prominent ex-ministers) was promptly arrested for his pains (he was eventually released, but no action has been taken on the list). Instead massive hikes in personal and sales taxes on the average Greek have been imposed in order to drive tax revenues up.

this is what happens when you join your currency with nations with radically different fiscal responsibility. only the nations who were clearly fiscally conservative enough should be using the euro. instead you join up with nations who spend like crazy then gets bailed out and continue to spend like crazy even though there are specific things they were supposed to spend it on. it's like having a brother who spends recklessly, everyone in the family gets screwed because mom and dad give some of the money that would have gone to you to make sure stupid brother doesn't starve
i heard in places like Italy and Greece people retire around 55 even if they don't have the money to do so. from what i've heard the PIIGS portugal italy ireland greece spain are all just really lazy as a whole and spend even if they don't have the money

lol. Well, I guess we can throw analysis out of the window and accept a worldview based on what you've "heard", as well as familial anecdotes.

suicidalmoose

11/09/12 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woohoo!
(Post 115225622)

this is what happens when you join your currency with nations with radically different fiscal responsibility. only the nations who were clearly fiscally conservative enough should be using the euro. instead you join up with nations who spend like crazy then gets bailed out and continue to spend like crazy even though there are specific things they were supposed to spend it on. it's like having a brother who spends recklessly, everyone in the family gets screwed because mom and dad give some of the money that would have gone to you to make sure stupid brother doesn't starve
i heard in places like Italy and Greece people retire around 55 even if they don't have the money to do so. from what i've heard the PIIGS portugal italy ireland greece spain are all just really lazy as a whole and spend even if they don't have the money

fuck off you ignorant, we work 40 hours a week, earn 600 euros per month and retire at 65

edit: now that I think of it, that was before the crisis. nowadays we work 45 hours a week to earn 500 euros

David87

11/09/12 05:53 PM

Looks like someone watches too much FoxNews

Numero10

11/09/12 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by woohoo!
(Post 115225622)

this is what happens when you join your currency with nations with radically different fiscal responsibility. only the nations who were clearly fiscally conservative enough should be using the euro. instead you join up with nations who spend like crazy then gets bailed out and continue to spend like crazy even though there are specific things they were supposed to spend it on. it's like having a brother who spends recklessly, everyone in the family gets screwed because mom and dad give some of the money that would have gone to you to make sure stupid brother doesn't starve
i heard in places like Italy and Greece people retire around 55 even if they don't have the money to do so. from what i've heard the PIIGS portugal italy ireland greece spain are all just really lazy as a whole and spend even if they don't have the money

You know literally nothing about the situation here

EchoPark

11/13/12 02:40 AM

Para todos, todo. Nada para nosotros

grantslam

11/13/12 06:22 PM

this is horrible

lanshan75

11/19/12 12:08 AM

I am totally agree with what you said,but my English is poor, sometiomes I don't know how to express my feeling,I just want to make some friends who can help me in my English and share the happiness with each other.
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